Books everyone seems to love, but you just can't

[TheSword]

It has nothing to do with being weak spirited. You can keep insults to yourself please. It's more to do with I like to enjoy what I read, and I do not enjoy spending 100 pages describing how dark that road is that Rand happens to be walking on.

I’ve amended to be clear I was joking and not claiming you lacked moral fiber for not finishing

It’s interesting though, that whenever I see a specific criticism of the books its usually a massive exaggeration

Perhaps give it another go if you get time, it’s lasted for a reason.

 

[Ath-kethin]

They stop being good right about there as I recall.

The 2nd was bad, the 3rd was worse, and it took me 15 years from when I started God Emperor to when I finished it.

By the time I had, I realized that the first one and God Emperor are the only ones worth reading.

 

[MNblockhead]

People seem to love Stephen King. I've read a few of his books, but they just seem to lack something to me. They just don't seem fulfilling or enjoyable.

I am about to finish the Wheel of Time, but I can understand everyone that talks about how they stopped reading. Book 1-3 move quickly and are fun. Book 4 starts to slow down, and book 5 starts to get more of a slog. However, none of them compare to what happens when you hit book 8, 9, and 10. Those books just about sunk my goal of getting through the Book series this time around. The series starts off quick and then just moves slower and slower and slower each book around. Finally, it starts to speed up again, but I think those middle books kill off a LOT of readers.

Try his Eyes of the Dragon. I got the kindle version on a whim because I was interested to see what a fantasy novel by Stephen King would be like and it had good reviews. I was happily surprised. I found it very well written, much better than the few books of his I've read in the past.

 

[jhingelshod]

So many people failing-will saves unable to make it past book 4 of Wheel of Time. Go back to it. Make it to the end and you won’t regret it.

For me, I struggled with Let Them Be Hanged and The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I lost interest. It felt like it was trying to be epic, but actually felt quite mundane.

That's an interesting perspective (on The First Law trilogy). I've always thought that Abercrombie was focussing on the mundane against the backdrop of the epic sweep of the story. For me, the focus on the very believable and human characters, most of whom are in some way broken, made the world and the epic sweep of the story more real.

WoT, on the other hand...utter guff. Think I gave up on book 2 or 3. It was like the diary of the worst D&D campaign you ever played. Literally the only thing I remember was, at various points in the book, marking the points where the party levelled up.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Wheel of Time: Female character descriptions/actions grate on me. Tried twice.
Harry Turtledove alternate histories: Carboard characters, cool settings. Can't do it.
Harry Potter: Too old to enjoy it.
Canticle for Liebowitz: Couldn't follow the thread connecting the stories
Confederacy of Dunces: Hate the main character so much I couldn't keep reading.
The Illuminatus Trilogy: I may have to be on something to follow the plot.

(TV Show)
Buffy TVS: Too much teen angst
Dragonball Z: Looks like a show for 8-10 year olds.

 

[Arilyn]

Years ago when Dragonlance was hitting bestseller status. Couldn't get into the series. And Dune. Just cannot read Dune.

And I also could not get into the Wheel of Time. Struggled through book 1 and stopped.

 

[dragoner]

Altered Carbon, overly violent, rather sexist, libertarian-fascist, and set in San Francisco, where I lived (Oakland actually, but it's just across the bridge) where he cribbed some stuff that might have been true at one point, like the mission being seedy, but totally wasn't true after the dot com boom.

Gibson's later cyberpunk books set in SF were rather meh as well, esp ones where they are living on the bay bridge which is gone now, and was going away then, as pieces were falling into the bay.

My sister loves the whole Anita Blake, sexy vampire kind of novel, not much into that.

Hear people croon over Heinlein's Starship Troopers, and how it is totally right about only letting soldiers vote. Uh, no? Not only do about 30% qualify for military service; personally I think it's recipe for fascism, like if restricting voting to one subclass, why not only let the officers vote, or the rich, or your own party? Nope. Plus the whole "violence as the final authority" thing.

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

C'mon all, I managed to start the Wheel of Time series at age 12. If a 12-year old can read 'em, you all can too I tease, I tease.

For me it's the Inheritance series. I loved the first one (Eragon), but after Eldest...no, just no lol. I hated so much the way he handled the elves it soured the whole experience for me lol.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Add me to the Wheel of Time list. I got a free sample of the first half or so of the book and choked through it; I actually bought the full version mostly to see if it got any better. It didn't.

I also wasn't a fan of the Thomas Covenant books, or rather, book. Couldn't make it past the first in that one either.

I enjoyed both Eddings and Feist, though, at lest their initial series or two. I gave up around the time it became obvious the authors were both copying and pasting phrases, conversations, and even scenes from earlier books into newer ones.

I also never got into Glen Cook's Black Company series. I LOVE his Garret, PI books with all my heart, but the Black Company was such a letdown I could hardly stand it.

 

[GreyLord]

Try his Eyes of the Dragon. I got the kindle version on a whim because I was interested to see what a fantasy novel by Stephen King would be like and it had good reviews. I was happily surprised. I found it very well written, much better than the few books of his I've read in the past.

That was actually the first one I read. It was a very quick read, but it just didn't really strike me as all that interesting while reading it or even after I was done with it. I think part of it was it seemed as if it was sort of written at the level of a third grade/level book but with adult themes tossed in.